Panasonic DMR-EH50 Review

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Panasonic DMR-EH50
3.6 stars
Average rating for this product is: 3.6 out of 5

From 3 ratings and 14 reviews

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Wysefield's Review of Panasonic DMR-EH50 DVD Recorder

30th Nov 2005

Overall Rating

1.5 stars
  • Value for money
    2.5 stars
  • Image Quality
    4 stars
  • Features
    0.5 stars
  • Time DVD Recorder Owned
    1 - 6 Months
  • Sound Quality
    4 stars
  • Ease of Use
    4 stars
Good Points

The use of RAM format DVD's


Bad Points

You can only record in 16:9 aspect on RAM format discs which won't play on most other machines.


General Comments

The Panasonic DMR-EH50 is a quality DVD recorder, but is let down badly by the fact that it only records 16:9 aspect on the hard disc or RAM DVD's. This is not mentioned in any sales literature, but warrants nearly a full page at the beginning of the user instructions supplied with the machine.

If you don't want to pass your recorded DVD's on to anyone else this won't be a problem.

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Members' Comments onWysefield's Review

  • maccheek on 11th Dec 2005

    As far as I can see there is no restriction to 16:9 recording in any format. The only restriction is to 4:3 with write once discs

  • Ken May on 24th Feb 2006

    Why would you want to record 16:9 format on RAM disc when you have a hard disc and can transfer to any DVD format afterwards? I bought some RAM discs and have never used them.

  • Wysefield Rank: Lance Corporal on 30th Mar 2006

    Thanks for your comments. I was told by Panasonic's Technical Department that the unit only records in 16.9 on RAM discs. I was so disgusted I haven't played around with recording from the hard drive, although they were quite categoric about only recording in 16.9 on RAM discs when I challenged them. I am happy to share the correspondence if you leave a contact.

    Mike

  • colinwright on 13th Jul 2006

    I hope the reviewer who states that the DMR-EH50 will only record in 16:9 is mistaken. I have a Panasonic DMR-E30, their earlier DVD-Ram recorder, and this can be set to record either in 4:3 or widescreen 16:9. It would be inexplicable for them to drop the capability to record in either format.

  • Wysefield Rank: Lance Corporal on 14th Jul 2006

    For anyone that is interested the final answer I got from Panasonic was: "In response, the DVD recorder is stated as recording to DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD-R, and DVD+R as it can record on all of these disks. No mention is made in the brochure of the unit being able to record to 16:9 on all of these disks. We do manufacture DVD/HDD recorders that can record on DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD-R, or DVD+R disks (DMREH50 and DMREH60D), however, these units will also only be able to record 16:9 format to DVD-RAM or HDD"

  • Ken May on 14th Jul 2006

    Wysefield: Why don't you record to HD in 16:9 and then dub to a DVD-R or RW and tell us the result?

  • maccheek on 15th Jul 2006

    I have a DMR-EH50 connected to a 4:3 aspect TV. Whatever format it is recording in (i always record initially to the HDD and copy to DVD later if I want to keep something), the playback is perfect on my TV and several others I have tried. It may I suppose be recording in 16:9 aspect, but if it is it doesn't matter. Perhaps if just chops the sides of the picture off.

    Bottom line, this machine works fine with a 4:3 aspect TV.